PAID

"Ugh..."

As I stretched and looked around, I noticed that the chairman, the old man, and my mentor were gone.

I couldn't tell if they had just stepped out or if they had truly left.

Turning around, I looked at the [Angel].

Nothing had really changed since I entered, but the atmosphere had shifted.

How should I put it? It felt... warm just by looking at it.

I stared for a while, then sighed and moved my legs.

My role here was done. After this, my mentor had said they would take care of everything, so there was no need to worry.

'Hmm. What should I do now?'

Before leaving the studio, I suddenly stopped and looked up.

I could see the pure white ceiling, but more than that, the light fixture was the first thing that caught my eye.

I squinted for a moment, then lowered my head again.

"This feels strange."

I thought I would feel relieved after finishing all the work, but I didn’t. Instead, there was a sense of something heavy lifting from the corner of my heart.

It felt like my body had become lighter.

"Should I go find my mentor first?"@@novelbin@@

I opened the door and stepped out of the studio.

***

It didn’t take long to find my mentor.

I sent a text, and thirty minutes later, they returned.

“Good. You seem to be feeling better mentally.”

“Not physically?”

“If there was something wrong with your body, you wouldn’t be here, sitting like this.”

...I had nothing to say to that.

I stared at my mentor with a dazed expression, and they chuckled.

“Hmph. If only you’d draw a bit more gracefully.”